ASUU decries proliferation of universities in Nigeria

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the Federal and State Governments of the proliferation of universities in the country.

Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, the National President of ASUU, expressed their concern at a Town Hall Meeting on Saturday in Jos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the town hall meeting was organised by the University of Jos chapter of the union.

According to the president, the federal and state governments were establishing universities without adequately funding them, adding that some of the universities established were needless.

“Federal and State Governments are establishing universities without adequately funding them.

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“For instance, why do we need a university of transportation or that of Information and  Communication Technology (ICT)?

“All these can be taken care of by the existing public universities.

“So, the proliferation of university education will not help us; it is grossly affecting the quality of education in the country,” he said.

Ogunyemi further lamented that state governments have made the setting up of universities a constituency project, rather than centre of development.

He noted with deep concern that if care is not taken, university education in the country would go into comatose just like the current state of the primary education system.

“What we see today is that state governments have turned the establishment of universities to constituency project; every governor wants to have a university in his constituency.

“This is really sad, and if we are not careful, university education will collapse like the public primary schools in the country.

“So, what ASUU is really fighting for is to stop the total collapse. Our demands are not selfishly motivated,” he said.

Ogunyemi advised the federal government to fix public universities, saying that by so doing, such institutions can be spinners of revenue generation.

He urged the government to implement the recommendation of the union based on the Needs Assessment Report of 2012 and other demands of the union.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the town hall meeting attracted students, parents, teachers, journalists, lawyers and religious leaders, among others, as participants. (NAN)